mizuxfem!oc
The Ningyo (人魚, "human fish") is a creature with both human and fish-like features.
Many fishermen who find these creatures caught in their nets throw them back into the ocean.
For if a ningyo is caught, she will bring misfortune and cal...
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CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE: BIRD IN A CAGE
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"Arm yourself, brothers! Sovereignty is finally upon you!!"
There were a dozen men, and the leader of the group offered Mizu and Ichiro guns. Ichiro accepted a pistol, golden and rusted from being hoarded and smuggled underground, but still deadly. It was a metaphor for the cause, in a way.
The men around him shared a look, and the leader realized he said something a little weird. Ichiro and Mizu were Japanese... they had known sovereignty their whole lives.
"Ah...for... Taiwan's sovereignty."
Ichiro gave him a thumbs up.
Mizu stared at the gun in the rebel's hand. She recognized him, one of the younger men who wanted to defy Bokeh and begin the uprising tonight. Ichiro took his gun, while Mizu was as quiet as a statue... criticizing the weapon. That pause of hers was unsettling as she surveyed the usefulness. To the rebel, her eyes glowed in the darkness.
He then saw her bloody bandages, signifying she'd been shot. Not once—but twice and still standing. "Ah! Let's get you out of here!"
She reached for his belt and unsheathed his own sword with a clink. Swiping it as hers. "This is fine."
"Wh—?! Ehm... okay."
She gripped it on her left arm and walked away from the group.
"How can he fight that way..?" he asked Ichiro, who had no answer. "H-he's not real. Is he really all they said he is..?"
To fight without a gun was a death sentence. Ichiro's eyes fell on Mizu's back as she walked ahead. Indifferent to his whispers about her. All she'd heard before, she just toned it out.
"...Mizu is the best samurai of Japan," he answered. "No two ways about it."
Down the whirling staircase, reinforcements and troops came. They were scattered, divided into retrieving gold and silver from the fire and intervening here. Their reaction was delayed, but here they were, storming the castle and splitting up in all areas. There were hundreds, dividing up like cockroaches. And here in the dungeon, they were vastly outnumbered, and their only way out was blocked by the enemy.
Towards the back of the group of soldiers, Mizu spotted a familiar face. The only surviving soldier that attacked her ship. The young man she thought had escaped. The one who released Fowler, who intercepted her killing of Van Ruyven. The one who was at fault for everything. The one who brought Fowler to the deck, who told her:
'Do you hear that? Your angel bled to death... all alone. The pain and horror frozen on her face.'
Her mouth curled back into a snarl. She grit her teeth as hot tears ran down her cheeks. Her eyes shut tight, brows twitching at the intensity of her pain. Something she couldn't hold in anymore. Something that needed to explode.
